What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[iluvdvds@Cult Labs]

Just finished watching Meatball Machine. The first time I saw it, I thought it was utter rubbish - terrible in fact! But, I thought I'd give it another watch and hope I could proof myself wrong. Well, I guess I did prove that. Not a great film by any strech of the imagination IMO, but it certainly did have some great moments (Exploding head anyone?) Clearly influenced by Cronenberg's earlier work and Tetsuo (I swear it was filmed on the same street!), perhaps if it was slighly shorter it may have been better. Overal I'd give it a low, but fair, 2 out of 5.

[vincenzo]

About to (perhaps unwisely) re-embark on a trip through Warhol territory. Namely Flesh, Trash, Heat, Chelsea Girls and Women In Revolt.

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by vincenzo

Our Man Flint

Cheesier than Stilton and campier than Austin Powers could ever dream to be, but I love it. Coburn is superb and Jerry Goldsmith's score is magnificent. 60's spies didn't get much better than this.

In Like Flint

Think the opposite to what I said about the original and you get the sequel. Tired, bland, dull (immensely dull), and cheap.

Gone is the fun atmosphere of the original. Also gone are an enthusiastic Coburn (replaced by a bored-as-heck Coburn) and a magnificent Goldsmith (this score rates among his worst). This whole mess feels like it was made up as it went along. The sole virtues are a very erotic opening title scene and a splendid cameo by Yvonne Craig (the original Batgirl) as a Russian ballerina/spy. The rest is abysmal.

[Gojirosan]

A mate lent me the Jonathan Creek box-set, so I haven't watched any films for a few days.

Been enjoying Jonathan Creek again though!

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Gojirosan

A mate lent me the Jonathan Creek box-set, so I haven't watched any films for a few days.

Been enjoying Jonathan Creek again though!

I used to love that show Goji. The problem is that when you re-watch them, the big reveal endings are spoilt.

[42ndStreetFreak]

"Night of Fear"

http://www.beardyfreak.com/rvnight.php


The rather frenzied opening credits throws up this Australian film’s chequered history as the first title to appear is “Fright”, as “Night of Fear” was originally going to be the first of 12 stories in an Australian TV horror series.
This never came to be due to just how warped and grotesque this opening film was!

The score here is mostly discordant, bizarre, electronic warbling which adds just so much to the insane atmosphere.
Another unusual aural choice is the lack of any dialogue in the entire film.
The lack of dialogue of course means the simplistic, one dimensional, initial set-up (literally just a woman being terrorised) stays that way for the duration.
But it’s a strange device that manages to instil the film with a genuine, oh so very 70’s, sense of nightmarish dread.

It’s literally horror film making cut right back to the bone!

All this is helped no end by the two lead performances, with Norman Yemm turning in a superb backwoods nutter performance as the 'Nutbag' and Carla Hoogeveen doing the screaming, confused victim shtick with great aplomb.

Director Terry Bourke also shows us that he knows his stuff even before most of this stuff even existed!
This is two long years before the classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and yet here, in this discordant, shrieking, minimalist wallow in the violent and the grotesque is all that brutal, screaming, leering nastiness of that glorious decade of American Exploitation movie-making that Tobe Hooper’s masterwork truly kicked off.
But “Night of Fear” is earlier, it’s Australian...and it was made for TV!

Like “TCM” there is little gore (though in fact there is actually a bit more bloodied weirdness here than in “TCM”) but we certainly have that unsettling, leering, attitude to threat, degradation and violence that so epitomised the 70’s Exploitation film.

The film is also given a, still pretty damn strong today, sexual edge.
Be it during a truly bizarre nightmare sequence involving the nude girl tied down to a table as the naked ’Nutbag’ slowly walks towards her, moaning and groaning, with the bloodied skull of a female victim held over of his groin, or the amazingly sick finale that sees the grunting, panting ‘Nutbag’ getting down with his grimy self in no uncertain terms, "Night of Fear" embraces the psycho-sexual horror with great verve.

And time and again we see that Bourke knows his Exploitation art as the camera zooms in on screaming mouths, pleading eyes, tear/grime streaked faces, ripped cloth and partially bared flesh.
Like all the greats of Exploitation film making, then and now, Bourke grabs the back of the audience’s head and rams their faces into the screaming violence and shrieking madness unfolding before them.

The production design is also spot on and here we have one of the truly great, unsung, psycho lairs of all time.
The filth, dirt, dereliction and charnel house grotesquery on display here certainly match other great movie killer’s lairs.

It is a real shame that “Night of Fear” was not extended into a feature because as it is it can’t be called a real movie so it sadly falls between the two stools of 'what the hell were they thinking' episode of a TV show and a promo reel for the feature length Exploitation movie that would never appear.

But as a skilfully crafted, bizarre, twisted, sometimes gruelling, extended exploitation sequence (that could grace any actual Exploitation feature you could name) “Night of Fear” is a true gem that any and all fans of Grindhouse/Drive-In/Exploitation cinema should check out right away.

It’s on a great double bill DVD with Bourke’s “Inn of the Damned” and is an essential purchase for sleaze 'n' grime connoisseurs.

[cinematheque]

watched Sin Nombre last night - wonderful film, important but fun and exciting as well. In the mould of City of God.

On a seperate note, I've made some sugestions of top revenge films on my blog and am asking for other peoples. If anybody is interested please take a look and leave some ideas.

http://cinematheque.leithermagazine....-best-revenge/

[iluvdvds@Cult Labs]

Tonight I watched S. F. Brownrigg's obscure Keep My Grave Open - it's about this crazy ol' woman who kills anyone who comes into her home. It was ok I guess, just very slow and often boring. The set pieces were pretty good however, as was the score for the film. Unfortionatly, I wouldn't personnally recommend this film. Maybe it was the terrible quality of the dvd (Alpha Video) that ruined it, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been much better if the dvd was perfect.

[Pete]

Fear in the City (Giuseppe Rosati, 1976) - Entertaining italian crime film starring Maurizio Merli. Could do with a decent dvd release.

Lady of the Night (Piero Schivazappa, 1985) - Dull erotic drama starring Serena Grandi and her massive chest, which lacks the style of the director's earlier The Frightened Woman. Only worth watching to see a load of women working out to the song Black Inferno from The Raiders of Atlantis.

Smash Cut (Lee Demarbre, 2009) - A funny, gory tribue to HG Lewis. Worth a look.

[DeadAlive]

The Road

Grim (Understatement if ever there was one.) post apocalyptic drama which is brilliantly acted and painfully earnest, but it just wasn't as enthralling as it should have been for me. Some plot developments didn't make sense either but I went along with them. I did begin to feel like I was watching an acting masterclass rather than a movie with the likes of Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and Garrett Dallahunt turning up for little more than cameos. I actually found the pacing a little slow. In fact I found myself checking how long this had left after about an hour. The ending was quite moving though. Admittedly well worth seeing for the central performances alone, but I'm going to have to read the book now as it is said to be far better than this filmed adaptation.